Evolution
by Nodakskip
Summary: A new second part added to an older fic. Crossover with X-Men: Evolution.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Evolution  
Author: Nodakskip  
Beta: Theo  
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone mentioned in this fic, that's FOX and the WBs stuff I'm playing with

Author Notes: This was the third in my Cordelia as Marvel Style fics. It was just listed as number 3. And I did write a follow up that was forgotten about. But Theo yelled at me to finish it since my postings have been sparse at the moment. So here is old part one and new part two.

Cross with X-Men: Evolution. Part two mentions parts from the XME episode "Blind Alley."

Summary: One Mutation can really change things.

---

**Deserted Science Building, Sunnydale High, Sunnydale CA  
Friday, September 12th, 1997  
8:05 pm**

"Hurry up, Xander!" Cordelia Chase yelled, as she struggled to get free.

"They're locked down!" Xander yelled back, as he tried to undo the straps holding the cheerleader down for the Frankenstein brigade. "I need a knife-"

"Where the hell are you going?!" she screamed in sudden fear, as the big dweeb turned to leave.

"They have to have the key or a knife around here somewhere!" Harris told her.

"Don't you dare leave me!" Cordelia yelled, as the flames shot up all around them. She had to squint to see him, wondering if it was the heat. But for the past hour, something had been hurting like hell inside her head...

"I can't just push you though towards the door, it's too risky!" Xander said, as he turned back. "Don't worry, Cordelia, I won't leave you here-"

He didn't get the rest out, as a flaming part of the ceiling fell almost directly upon him.

"XANDER!!" Cordelia yelled in horror, as the boy's body crumbled under the rubble.

---  
**  
Outside the Building  
The same time**

Buffy Summers looked around, concerned. "Willow, where's Xander and Cordelia!?"

"They must be by the ambulance," Willow Rosenberg said, pointing to the large white vehicle next to the first fire truck.

---  
**  
Back inside the Building  
The same time**

Cordelia yelled in fear and desperation to Harris, as her panic grew more and more. "Xander!!" Her eyes were now squeezed tight in fear and pain. Ever since she had woken up on this damn gurney, she had  
felt it.

"Xander, please!" she pleaded. "I don't know if you can hear me, but we have to get out of here!" Her voice grew softer. "Xander, please for God's sake, wake up! I even promise to flash you if you just get  
me outta here!"

When no response came, the cheerleader took several deep breaths. "Okay...he's out of the equation...I have to do this myself..."

The brunette girl lifted her head and opened her eyes, to look at the thick leather straps holding her arms in place. "Oh dear GOD!" the girl yelled, when all she saw was red...everything was red. She could feel something building inside her head.

And before she could even say anything, Cordelia Chase felt her eyes nearly explode with pain and energy.

---  
**  
Outside the Building  
The same time**

The Scoobies were getting desperate. "What do you mean, he's still in there!?" Willow demanded, almost hyperventilating.

By now, the entire single-storey building was on fire. "I have to get in there!" Buffy shouted before a cop stopped her. "My friends are in there!"

"They know!" The cop told her. "They're trying to get in, but it's blocked. I-"

Everyone who saw it during the next instant was amazed and terrified. A thin band of red energy shot out from the inside of the building, tearing a massive hole open as it went.

"Damn!" the cop yelled. "What the hell was that!?"

---  
**  
Back inside the Building  
The same time  
**  
Cordelia didn't know what the hell was going on, but whenever she opened her eyes... SOMETHING shot out of them. The first shot had just missed cutting off her own left hand. And what was worse, she just couldn't shut it off...whatever it was.

It had taken a lot of effort, and several misses to finally cut the bonds that were holding her down. The buxom cheerleader and socialite then kept her eyes shut tightly, as she crawled slowly towards where she had seen Xander go down. Her hand lightly searched the pile of rubble, till she came up with something soft.

Slowly, she felt it and found...a face. A male one too, judging the slight stubble.

"Xander!?" she called to him. "Wake up!" She lightly slapped him. "Come on!"

"Wha..."

"Oh, thank God!" Cordelia yelled as she heard his voice. "I can't see. Can you get us out of here?"

"I think so, I...AGHHH!"

"What?" Cordy asked, panicked.

"My arm is definitely broken!" He used his other arm to grab a hold of the ledge of the doorframe. Slowly, he pulled himself out of the pile, flames still all around them. After he was able to climb up, Xander looked towards her and said, "Cordy? You said you can't see, uh - why are your eyes shut?"

Cordelia turned her head away from him, and opened her eyes.

"Yikes!" Xander called out as the red beam erupted from her eyes, and blasted a hole right through the concrete wall. "Well, that's new-"

"What did those freaks and geeks DO to me?!" Cordelia demanded, as she tightly shut her eyes again.

"How about we not burn to death before we figure that one out?" Harris suggested. "Come on..."

---  
**  
Outside the Building  
The same time**

"So far, no names have been released," an attractive Asian correspondent reported into the camera. "It's believed two teenagers are still in the building..."

"GET DOWN!" a firefighter yelled, as the wall in front of him blew outward.

"Ladies and gentlemen...there has been some sort of explosion inside the entrance to the building-"

"Look!" a girl shouted. "There they are!"

"Get the shot, Ronnie!" the news reporter yelled at the cameraman as he zoomed into Cordelia and Xander helping each other out of the newly-created opening.

"Xander!" Willow yelled from behind the yellow police lines.

He didn't hear her over the roar of the fire and the babbles of the other voices, as the paramedics came rushing to them. "Sir, are you okay?"

"Can you open your eyes, miss?" another asked.

"NO!" Cordelia yelled at him.

"She's got a specialist medical problem..." Xander yelled above the noise. "Just leave it alone for now, okay guys!?"

---  
**  
Sunnydale General Hospital, Sunnydale  
Saturday, September 13th, 1997  
9:03 am**

"How the hell did this happen?" Charles Chase demanded. "Red energy beams coming out from her eyes?!"

"I don't understand it either," Dr. Vanhensen told him, with a small shrug. "No medical condition I know of or have ever seen can explain this...because the human body simply can't do this!"

"Well, she's doing it anyway!" Charles yelled. "My daughter is in that room with her eyes bandaged shut, so she doesn't open them and destroy this entire damn hospital!"

The doctor got up and closed the door. He said hesitantly, "Mr. Chase...there may be one thing that I've heard of that could explain this. But up till now, I thought it was just an urban legend-"

"And what would that be?" Charles demanded.

"I was at a conference last year, there was a man called Charles Xavier. He said...well, just as we're different from our caveman ancestors, he speculated that sometime in the future, human beings  
might evolve and develop new...abilities."

"Such as what?" Charles asked.

The doctor sighed. "There was no hard evidence to back it all up, but he claimed to know someone who could control any sort of metal with his mind. And another that could change physical appearance, at  
will."

"I've never even heard of any of this before in my entire life," Charles shook his head.

"Unsurprising. Many, almost all of the delegates didn't bother attending his lectures," Vanhensen replied. "I was one of the few who heard him - more out of boredom, than anything else. But Xavier theorizes that humanity is at a stage where we might soon evolve to what he calls...the next level."

"Like what?" Charles asked. "Like the goddamn aliens on Star Trek?"

"I don't know for sure," Vanhensen said. "I only sat in on the first twenty minutes of his lecture...I had an early flight to catch, after all. But as far as I know, he is the only person that ever even suggested stuff like this. And thus, the only one who might be able to assist in your daughter's...situation."

Charles let out a deep breath. "Somehow, I don't think a teenage girl shooting laser beams out of her eyes was in his speech, was it?"

"No. But as I said, it's all we have at the moment," the doctor told him. "Quite frankly, I can suggest no way to stop this, or help Cordelia become who and what she was before yesterday. The pain your daughter said she had at first is now gone, but the beams are still active. We either call Xavier, or your little girl will be forced to keep her eyes shut for the rest of her life..."

---

**Cordelia's room, Chase Mansion, Sunnydale  
Wednesday, October 1st, 1997  
4:48 pm**

"Knock, knock!"

Cordelia picked her head up, morose and sulking after weeks of enforced blindness. "Xander? Is that you?"

"Yep. Thought I'd come by and see how you were doing," the class clown said cheerfully, as he came into her bedroom.

"Oh, just great!" Cordelia snorted. "Hey, wanna hear something funny? My mom didn't believe me about the eye thing, and I had to take out the gardener's lawn mower to prove it to her!" She felt around for the edge of her bed to climb down. "And you want to know the best part?"

"Sure, hit me..." Harris said, as he moved to help her to a chair.

"My mom freaked out so much, she suddenly had to head off to the Hamptons," Cordelia said with badly-hidden sadness. "She can't take it that her baby girl's a weirdo freak now!"

"You're not a freak!" Xander told her at once. "Look, Cordelia, I know we don't get along normally...but please believe me. You're not a freak or a weirdo-"

"Gee," Cordy said sarcastically. "Coming from a guy who fights demons on a daily basis while lusting after Buffy's ass, that's such a big comfort!"

"Fine, let's be all moody now..." Xander grumbled. "And by the way, have you forgotten about Buffy's little mating dance at the Bronze last month?"

"Oh, don't you bitch at me Xander Harris...I had to save your lousy life that night!" Cordy ranted.

"Hey!" Harris yelled back. "I'M the one who got you out of there!"

"But I'm the one who knocked the wall out!" Cordy pointed out smugly.

"Fine. God, but you can be such a self-centered snob!" Harris bit back.

"Well, at least I don't dress like a drunken spaz!" Cordelia shot back. Oddly, this little war of words had made her feel better than she had in days, however...

"Cordelia?"

"Daddy?" Cordelia asked, knowing her father's voice.

"Can you come downstairs, sweetheart?" Charles asked. "There are some people here who I'd like you to talk to."

"Who?" Cordelia asked, a little timid and not wanting a lot of people to see her like this.

"They're the experts we called," Charles responded. "They say they might be able to do something to help." He looked to Xander. "Uh, it's Alexander, isn't it? You can see yourself out, can't you?"

"Ah, yeah...I guess," Xander said. "Okay, bye Cordy-"

"Xander?" Cordelia called to him.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking back.

Cordelia felt for his hand, and took it in hers. "I just wanted to say thanks for coming here, and for keeping an eye on me," she told him with more than a little emotion. "Oddly enough, you're the only one who's bothered to come around ever since IT happened..."

Xander looked at her, shocked. "Really? Well, uh, don't mention it...so, do you want me to stop by tomorrow?"

Mr. Chase cut in at once, "There are things Cordelia needs to discuss downstairs first...I'll let you know when she'll be free for visitors. Just leave your number with the maid before you go."

"Okay," Xander said as he moved Cordelia's hand to her father's. "Not sure what I can do to help, if anything, but just call me if you need me, Cor..." Xander said as he left. He hated to admit it, but his feelings for the ice queen were changing at seeing her so...distraught like this.

As he crossed the front foyer, the high school junior spied two people waiting in the sitting room. A white, bald-headed old man in a wheelchair, and a tall white-haired beautiful black woman.

---

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale  
Thursday, October 2nd, 1997  
1:56 pm  
**

//Alexander Harris to the principal's office. Alexander Harris to the  
principal's office at once!//

The gang looked up in surprise, from the couches in the student lounge. "Since when does Snyder want to target me for something?" Xander wondered as he got up.

"Well, Xander," Buffy said. "He tried to screw me over with the parent-teacher thing, so...I guess tag, you're it."

"Great..." Harris sighed.

A few minutes later the balding little man opened the outer office door, to find Xander standing by the large front desk. "Ah, Harris..." the troll-like administrator groaned. "I can't tell you how...nice it is, to have to talk to you."

"Oh, gosh, Principal Snyder sir, stop!" Xander said back sarcastically. "I can just feel the love. Should we hug?"

Snyder frowned at him in disgust. "Smart-mouthed little punk teenager..." He pointed to a meeting room. "In there, now!"

Harris was surprised that Snyder didn't follow him in. "What's going on?"

"I asked to see you."

Xander turned to see Cordelia, her beautiful features now minus the eye bandages. She turned to face him directly, and the boy saw how she was wearing a stylish pair of sunglasses...that were made of some solid red material.

"Cordy?" Xander asked in confusion

Cordelia closed the door, before she silently hugged him.

"Cordy?" Xander repeated, more than a little surprised that she was hugging him. "What's wrong?"

The Chase girl sniffled a little, as she let him go. "I'm leaving town."

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"Daddy says he's not sending me away...but, uh," Cordelia wiped a tear away. "The people who came to my house that day - they say they can help me deal with...this," she said as she pointed to her eyes.

"Just putting on sunglasses stops it?" Xander asked, amazed and thinking of all the destruction he'd seen.

"Ruby quartz," Cordelia informed him. "Everything I see is in red, but if I took these off..."

"It's bye-bye school wall," Xander finished for her.

"Right," the cheerleader said emotionally. She then handed him a slip of paper, "This is my new addresses, I wanted to ask you to write me...please."

"Yeah, okay..." Xander said in confusion, seeing the emotion on her face. "I promise...but, um, Cordy...why me? Why isn't Harmony in here? She's your best friend, isn't she? Ever since we were in  
kindergarten-"

Cordelia looked away. "No, Harmony Kendall is not now nor has she EVER been my friend! Xander, right now she's busy spreading rumors that I got a venereal disease of some sort! With me gone...Harm's  
the queen bee around here. That's what she's working towards, and any so-called friendship isn't gonna get in the way of that!"

"Damn, but that's cold," Xander whispered, seeing the mask of fury on the former cheerleader's face. "I'm sorry-"

"Whatever. Look, when we write I'll send you the phone number there, okay?" she said.

He looked at her sadly. "Cordy, you know what my family's like. I can't really afford long-distance calls to..." he looked at the paper. "Bayville, New York?"

"I'll call you," she quickly said. "This guy Professor Xavier is rich, and he claims they have a good communication system. I've already got the library number, too...God, since you and those other  
tweakos seem to practically live there and all!"

"Look - maybe you don't have to go," Xander told her, amazed at himself for saying this. "It's not like we're living in the 1950s anymore, where a girl gets sent away if she-"

"Don't worry," Miss Chase said firmly. "If I don't like it there, I'll come back. I mean, someone has to teach you how to dress properly one day!" she laughed lightly.

----  
**  
The Library  
Half an hour later**

"Xander?" Giles asked as he came in. "Did Snyder try to blame you for what Spike did, the other day?"

"No, G-man," Xander sighed. "I just said goodbye to Cordelia, oddly enough."

"Goodbye?" Willow asked as she came over. "She's going somewhere?"

"Her dad's sending her to a school that could help her...supposedly," Harris said with a shrug.

"With her eye thing?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, with the eye thing," Xander replied, before the conversation moved onto more Hellmouth-y matters.

---  
**  
Xavier Institute, Bayville, New York  
A month later**

Cordelia had to say - she was having a much better time of it than she'd thought she would have.

The Institute put her home in Sunnydale to shame, no doubt about it. She had her own room, a very healthy clothes budget from her father, and she had easily become one of the most popular girls at her new  
school.

Bayville High School.

She and her new best friend, Jean Grey, had both seemed to simply just take over the leadership of the popular crowd, when they'd started school at the same time. Jean also lived at the Institute, so they both grew together fast.

The only things that were different between the two were that Jean had long red hair, and could move things with her mind. And since she was more of a jock than Cordelia, Jean quickly became one of the  
co-captains of the girls' soccer team.

Well, Xander Harris didn't seem to mind getting a copy of the pictures Storm had taken, of Cordy and Jean in their bikinis by the pool. In fact, the guy had asked in one of the phone calls if there was anything more to show him, so she and Jean were kicking around the idea of making a teasing videotape to send to the horny little dumbass.

"Here, try this," Professor Xavier said, as he came over in his wheelchair.

Cordelia closed her eyes, took off her newest pair of ruby sunglasses and put on the new ruby visor. When it was fully on, only then did she open her eyes. "Well, at least I can see," she told him.

Xavier turned to the stack of concrete bricks at the other end of the underground room. "Do you think you can control it enough to hit the target?"

"Through the visor?" Cordelia wondered.

"It's less dense than the glasses," Xavier told her. "Just try."

Cordelia looked and concentrated as hard as she could. She hardly even felt it as the energy blast flew out of the visor, and cut a clean hole through the bricks.

"Damn!" Cordy said, amazed. "It worked."

"Yes, so it did," Xavier said proudly. "And if you'll notice that the beam was only the width of the visor opening..."

He rolled back slightly. "Now that we know it can work...let's try to see how much time must pass before you can recharge, shall we?"

"Okay, Professor," Cordelia Chase a.k.a. Cyclops said, as she started letting laser blasts fly at the target in rapid fire.

----  
**  
Empty Field Outside of Sunnydale, CA  
Friday, May 22nd, 1998  
1:35 pm**

Xander paced around, wondering why on earth Cordelia had told him to meet her here of all places.

Harris had been glad to leave town, actually; and now that Angelus was roasting in Hell, maybe Buffy could finally get her mind back in the game. But honestly, what had his former hero been thinking  
lately?

That stupid last-minute soul curse hadn't worked, the glass cue ball had exploded when Willow had gotten the herbs or whatever wrong, almost straight out of her coma...so it was lucky he had lied to Buffy about what his best friend had been planning to do, in his opinion. Otherwise, Xander suspected there was a good chance EVERYONE would have paid the price for trying to get Soul Boy back, and not just Kendra the Slayer.

Banishing such thoughts, Harris dropped his bag with a week's worth of clothes on the ground. The closest road was a ways back - the cab had refused to go onto the gravel road, so he'd had to hoof it for about half a mile.

Xander plunked down onto a large rock to wait. "How the hell is she even supposed to find..."

He was cut off, as the boy suddenly heard a loud whining noise. Xander looked up, and was shocked to see a jet that looked like a modified SR-71 Blackbird was hovering above the field and slowly descending to land...straight down.

"Didn't know they could do that," was all Xander could think of to say, as the black jet landed about a little way from him.

He watched a door open in the back, and a figure in black emerged. "Hey, Xander!"

"Cordelia?!" Xander grabbed his bag and ran to meet her. They hugged briefly, before he looked her over. "Interesting outfit, I have to say..."

Cordelia did a full turn for him. She was wearing a version of her X-men uniform. Black spandex with a large yellow X going across her chest, the yellow going all the way down to her boots. A thin red visor covered her eyes, as he'd expected from the latest phone call.

"So what do you think?" she asked him, as they walked towards the jet's door.

"I'm definitely not minding you in Spandex, Miss Chase. Although your latest bikini is what truly does that body justice," Xander grinned at his pen pal.

"Figures, you little pervert!" Cordelia said with a faux scowl, as she lightly punched him in the arm.

As they boarded the plane, Xander saw the black woman he had seen at Cordy's place the year before. She was in the pilot's seat, and a dark-haired younger girl came up to him. "So this is Speedo Boy, huh?" the female teen asked with a grin.

"Speedo boy?" Xander asked in confusion, as Cordelia stowed his bag in a bin.

"She saw your swim team photos...and so did Rogue," Cordelia teased him. "Believe it or not - you've got a fan club in New York, Harris!"

"Really?" the male teen asked, surprised.

"Yep," Cordy said, as they sat down and buckled in. She looked at the younger girl. "If you're good, Kitty, I'll get him some Speedos for the pool when we go looking for a tux!"

Kitty grinned at Xander's look.

"Yep. So glad I started working out last year," Harris whispered to himself.

As the jet took off, Xander looked over towards Cordy. "So, you picked out your Prom dress yet?"

"Sorry, Xander," Cordelia teased him. "No information on that till tomorrow night...but I'm definitely going to knock your socks off, pal!"

"Me? You mean...you don't have a boyfriend to take you to this thing?" Xander asked in confusion.

"No," the merriment seemed to dim a little with Cordelia's facial expression.

"Well, then, Miss Chase, pen pal of mine. The nastiest girl in Sunnydale's history, and the one person who I can't believe I've sorely missed for the last nine months. May I have the honor of escorting you to the Prom?"

The woman now known to some as Cyclops unleashed a classic megawatt smile, unfettered by the visor she wore. For as much as she hated to admit, Cordy had missed her old sparring partner as much as he had  
missed her. "You may, Xander!"

The jet quickly got enough altitude and activated the radar jamming, before it roared off for New York.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chase Estate, Sunnydale, California**

**August 28****th****, 1999**

**11:45 am**

Xander Harris drove up to the Chase mansion, his uncle's old car just having enough horsepower to make it up the long driveway before almost collapsing in a heap.

Upon parking at the place he hadn't been to in a very long time, he followed the brick walkway around to the back of the house, to only stop dead at the sight that greeted him by the pool.

The two girls he was here to meet were only in skimpy bikinis. The phrase 'great butt, excellent rack!' inadvertently ran through that old Xander brain at the sight of the redhead, Jean Grey, putting suntan lotion on Cordelia's back. "Uh…hey, ladies!" Xander said, hoping his voice didn't crack like he thought it did at the sight.

"Xander!" Cordelia, wearing her ruby sunglasses, squealed in delight at the sight of her old pen pal as she ran over and hugged him. "It's about time you got your lame ass over here!"

"Well, if I'd have known you two were sunbathing…I would have been camped out here since last night!" Harris joked. "Maybe with some video equipment…"

Cordelia lightly slapped him on the arm. "God, is that all you think about?"

"Yep. 'Cause I'm a male teenager in America," Harris then told his friend simply.

"That you are," Jean said as she came over and hugged the guy as well. "It's good to see you again, Xander. I heard you blew up your school?"

"Well, I helped live the dream anyway. And I heard someone blew yours up…with people inside?" Xander grimaced.

"Mystique," Cordelia growled. "She's going to end up like the Mayor, if I ever see her again!"

Jean just put her hand on Cordelia's shoulder. "Same for me."

Xander had no way to know that that mutant shape-changer had impersonated Charles Xavier back then, and set the self-destruct on the Xavier Institute. Or that Cyclops had figured it all out just in time, and saved nearly all the kids from the blast. All he knew was that the mutants had been revealed on TV during a battle, and so were now all 'outed', for want of a better term.

Therefore Xander just commented, "Ah…hope I didn't bring up a sore subject?"

"Don't worry about it, Xand," Cordy told him, as they walked over to the Chase's poolside bar. "We've all got issues."

"'Kay," Xander replied, as he took a seat. "So, you never said in your last letter how long you two would be in town."

Jean and Cordelia shared an odd look. "Well, about four years or so," the former cheerleader then said simply.

"What?" Xander asked, sitting up straight.

"We're signed up for UC Sunnydale," Cordelia told him.

"Yeah," Jean added to the surprised young man. "Minor California college or not, the place has a great medical school prep program!"

"And we can still keep up the skill level with our powers, with all the demons around here," Cordelia added.

"Oh. Wow. So, you two are planning to join the old Scooby gang?" Harris asked. "Ah, Cordy, just my opinion, but I wouldn't recommend it. 'Cause I just don't see Buffy sharing command that easily..."

"Why?" Cordelia wondered. "Doesn't she already share it with Giles, and that Faith chick?"

"Oh, the Buffmeister pretty sore still on G-man's authority after that whole Cruciamentum screw-up," Xander answered with a sigh. "And Faith just kind of does her own thing."

"Well, they'll have to just accept it," Cordy commented, "I mean hey, we did take out Apocalypse!"

"Yeah," Jean added. "Though we had the Brotherhood, and Shield with us."

Cordelia waved that off. "Well, yeah they helped a little…"

After a few moments of awkward looks between the two girls, Jean elbowed Cordelia. "Ah, Cordy? Don't we have something to tell Xander?"

Cordelia nodded. "Right."

"Something wrong?" Xander asked, curious.

"Maybe it'll be best just to show you," Cordelia answered him, as she leaned over and the two girls started kissing.

"Well, that's new…" Xander said to himself in disbelief, as the two girls in bikinis made out. After all, this was Cordelia Chase. The girl that had dated just about every boy in Sunnydale High…at least, before the whole mutant thing.

Cordelia eventually opened her eyes and stopped making out with her girlfriend. "Ah, sorry Xander. Got a little caught up in the moment."

Harris just looked at her for a moment, then blurted out, "Now I really do wish I had set up a video camera!"

"Oh no," Jean said with a laugh. "Being gay and a mutant is bad enough these days to some people. We don't need any stray videos floating around."

They laughed at that before Xander got a worried look. "Ah, Cor…back last year, we kind of…you know, before you two…so did I…did I make you gay?"

Cordelia really laughed at that. "What?"

Xander kept talking. "Well, see, it was kind of my first time and I…"

"You were fine, Xander," his pen pal told him. "Now shut up before you dig yourself into an even deeper hole than the one you're already in, okay?"

----

**Basement of an abandoned warehouse, Mexico City, Mexico**

**Seven months ago**

"Cordelia!?"

Cyclops finally picked herself up off the ground at the sound of the friendly voice. She cursed her nemesis Mystique, who had kidnapped her; just because she had let the shape-changer be captured by the Army. The evil mutant had just beaten the holy crap out of the former socialite, and now Cordelia couldn't open her eyes - for fear she might kill an innocent person or destroy a building, given how her visor was now history.

Still having to keep her eyes shut the brunette girl called out, "Jean? Jean, is that you?"

"Yes it's me, Cordelia," the female voice replied as it came closer.

"Watch out!" the brunette teen warned. "Mystique is around here somewhere!"

"No, it's okay - she's gone," Jean told her. "I saw her running away…it's over now, you're safe!"

Cordelia propped herself up by feel against a wooden crate. "Jean, how did you find me?"

"Cerebro," Jean replied, very near. "It led me right to you."

Cordelia's face fell. Even without being able to see at the moment, her hearing was still excellent. "Right to this warehouse?"

"Yes. It's okay now," Jean said, almost right next to her. "I'm here now…"

"No she's not, you BITCH!!" Cordelia screamed in anger, after she opened her eyes and let loose a powerful blast of energy.

For the second Cyclops had her eyes opened, she had seen all that she needed to. And the brunette had been right; it had been Jean…with a two by four ready to nail her in the head.

She heard the pained scream, as Mystique hit the ground several feet away. "Check your facts next time. Cerebro can only do the general area!" Cordelia yelled, as she tried to get to her feet but failed. The fight had taken too much out of her.

"Fine!" the older shape-shifting mutant yelled, as she glared at the blinded girl. "Game's over anyway, I've had enough fun!" Mystique jumped up, and was aiming for the kill when…

She was caught dead in mid-air.

"Agghhh!" Mystique screamed, only feet away from her target. She kicked and fought as hard as she could, but it was pointless; the mutant was firmly stuck in place.

"Now it's my turn!"

Mystique turned her head, to see the real Jean Grey floating down through the hole in the ceiling. "How sweet. Girlfriend to the rescue..." she growled out.

"You got that right!" Jean Grey yelled in anger, as she floated in the air.

"AHHH!!" Mystique yelled in pain, as she was mercilessly tossed between the walls like a pinball until she slammed flat against an old brick one. She then screamed in agony as Jean's powers pushed her face-first into the wall, eventually causing it to collapse on top of her.

"Cordy!" Jean called in a panic, as she set herself on the ground and ran over to her friend. "Are you okay?"

"Jean," Cordelia asked weakly, as she felt strong arms wrap around her. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, it's really me," Jean said, as she cradled the savagely beat-up Cyclops. With a quick look back she added, "Mystique is gone…it's okay…it's okay…"

---

**Later, aboard the X-men Jet**

Cordelia and Jean sat in the back seat while Storm, Xavier and Wolverine sat up front near the controls. They watched the young couple talk...

"Okay, hold on," Jean told Cordelia, as she opened up her spare glasses and slid them onto her face. When they were in place, the telepath quickly told Cyclops, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Cordelia did just that. And she saw the most beautiful thing in the world. Jean's face, looking worriedly back at her.

"Is that better?" Ms. Grey asked.

"It couldn't get any better," Cordelia commented seriously, causing Jean to blush brightly.

"I was so worried…I mean, I just knew you were in trouble," Jean told her honestly. "I could sense it…even from so far away. It must be some type of bond we have-"

"Yeah," Cordelia agreed simply, as Jean inched closer.

The adults looking on saw the first kiss between the two, before turning around. "Well," Wolverine said, as he searched for a cigar. "It's about damn time!"

"Isn't that the truth!" Storm said, recalling all the looks the two female teens had been sending each other after Jean's accident with her powers.

Xavier just grinned, but said nothing; glad that his students had found some happiness.

---

**Crestview Mansion, 1392 Victoria Street, Sunnydale**

**September 2****nd****, 1999**

"Here's the last box, Cordelia."

"Thanks, Oz," Cordelia told the guy who she had just met today, as he put the box on the table.

"I can't believe you guys got this place so cheap!" Willow said, as she looked around the large old mansion.

"Well, Daddy is the real estate guy in town," Cordelia told her, as she started to put dishes away. "When the area nearby was re-zoned a few months ago, it was easy to pick up."

"And don't forget, I've been drafted to help fix it up," Xander said blithely, as he handed Jean some silverware.

"You?" Buffy asked. "No offense, Xander…but what the hell would you know about plumbing or whatever this place needs?"

"Not much, I grant ya," Xander told the Slayer. "But hey, I can learn. And since I'm the one who's not gonna be going to college classes all day…"

"I still think we should talk to the Professor about helping you out about that, Xander," Jean said. "Sure, you're not an X-man, but you're a good friend-"

"No thanks," Harris told her. Frowning at the stare Cordelia was giving him, he then said simply, "Don't give me that look, Cor; because college isn't for everybody, and I'm not gonna sponge off of the Professor."

"Fine. But we're not letting you just waste your life away in this town, Xander Harris!" Cordelia told him firmly.

"So you've said, over and over - for the last week or so!" Xander snapped, getting annoyed. "Look, I just got out of high school…remember that? And I'll think about my college options for next year, but not if you keep nagging like this!"

"So," Oz smoothly intervened, before the argument could escalate. "I was thinking of that bedroom on the second floor, on the other side of the building. It would make a killer band practice room-"

"Sorry, Oz," Cordy laughed. "But I can't just give Xander's room away like that!"

"Xander's room!?" Willow asked, shocked. The redhead was still a little wary of Cordelia - ever since she'd found out the mutant girl had become Xander's first, while he'd been at her place in New York. "Why would Xander have a bedroom here?"

"Why not?" Jean asked the witch. "He's going to be working on this place, and this is still the Hellmouth, right?"

Cordelia agreed. "I'm not sending him home in the dead of night after a long day's work, when he can just sleep here..." Ms. Chase looked back to her friend. "And it can be a place for when your dad gets a little wasted, too. You know."

Xander just looked down, before firmly straightening up again. "Thanks."

Jean looked between her girlfriend and her friend. "You know what Cordy, on second thought - why doesn't he just move in here full time?"

"Good idea," Cordelia agreed. "You need to get out of that house eventually; didn't your dad say he was going to charge you rent?"

Willow forced a smile onto her face when Xander agreed to it. The girl had had a crush on Xander ever since grade school, and even though she was with Oz now, it still hurt to see Xander near other women. Let alone living with two good-looking college co-eds. You don't really get over your first love, even if your first never loved you back the same way.

---

**Former Psi Theta fraternity house, UC Sunnydale, California**

**September 30****th****, 1999**

**7:38 pm**

"And who are you two supposed to be?" the vampire known as Sunday laughed, as the two women in some type of uniform with an X across the chest glared at her.

"Like you can make fun of anyone's outfits? God, that look is SO 1980's!" Cordelia replied snidely.

Sunday growled and showed her true face. But when the two mortals didn't run away screaming, she frowned. "Ah, why aren't you two morons trying to flee for your pathetic lives?"

"A, because we're not stupid. B, because we're not afraid of a badly dressed vampire," Jean replied, as she used her powers to lift Sunday off the ground.

"Hey!" the female vampire screamed. "Damn, you're witches!"

"Geez, but you are so completely thick in the head," Cordelia said, before she fired off a small blast from her visor. "How the hell did you avoid getting staked for the last 20 years, anyway?"

Sunday's body turned to dust, even before her severed head hit the ground.

Xander came running in at that moment, with a stake in his hand. "Calvary's here! Cavalry's..." He looked around, and saw the vamp dust littering the ground. "...totally not needed?"

"Sorry Xander," Cordelia told her fiend. "We would have waited for you, but they were going to go out hunting."

Harris sighed. "Last time I lose track of the time painting the basement."

Jean looked at the large piles of belongings the vampires had stolen over the years. "Look at this stuff. Is that an eight track tape player?"

Cordelia laughed as she pulled out a cash box. "Well, they won't need all this green anytime soon." She tosses it over to Xander. "Here you go."

"For me?" Xander asked as he caught the small metal box.

"Ah, yeah nimrod," Cordy told him. "It's not like we need it. Both our families are rich, remember?"

Before he could reply to that, Jean picked up a shoebox and wiped away a tear as she saw what was in it. "What is it, baby?" Cordelia asked as she came over to her girlfriend.

Harris and Chase instantly got it when they saw the contents. It was family photos that had been stolen from the dorm rooms of the vampires' victims. Most had been mutilated or drawn on. "Bastards," Xander sighed. "Alright, let's take what we don't need to the Salvation Army…maybe someone really can use this stuff."

"Should have made them suffer more," Cordelia snapped.

"No," Jean told her firmly. "Remember what the Professor said. That would make us no better than them."

-----

**Crestview Mansion, Sunnydale, California**

**October 23****rd****, 1999**

Cordelia shook the new girl's hand. "Welcome to Sunnydale, a.k.a. the Hellmouth."

Emma Grace Frost shook her offered hand. "Thanks. And thanks for putting me up."

"The Professor said this place would be good for you," Jean told the other teen mutant. "That makes you kind of like family."

The new girl frowned at that. "Maybe not. I've had enough of 'families' lately. My father a.k.a. the jackass, sent me all the way across the country to be rid of me."

"Ok…" Cordelia started but was cut off.

"Also, I have a younger sister named Cordelia," the 5'8 blond told her new housemate. "And she is one of the worst examples of scum on this planet. So mind if I just call you by that nickname? Cordy?"

"Sure," Cordelia told her with an upraised eyebrow. "I guess."

Emma happened to glance out the large bay window, and stopped. With interest, she walked over to get a better look of what had grabbed her attention. "I see you have more here than just school and demons."

The other two girls came over and saw a shirtless Xander Harris moving two by four's from a truck. "That's Xander," Jean told her. "I don't know if the Professor mentioned him…"

"No he didn't," the blond said with a small grin, the sort of grin women get when they like the look of a new male specimen in their vicinity.

Cordelia looked worried, sensing what was going through Emma's mind. Gay or not, Xander was still someone very special to her. "He lives here and he's helping remodel the place."

Emma didn't look at the girl as she said, "He must work out."

"Well, yeah. Pretty much a given when you have no powers, and have to fight demons," Jean said. "You have to stay in shape."

That did cause Emma to turn away from the window. "Wait, he's just a flatscan?"

"A what?" Cordelia demanded.

"Normal human," Emma said. "Non-mutant, Homo sapien?"

"So is that a bad thing in your view?" Ms. Chase asked coldly. After being hunted by the government because she was a mutant, she was not going to let Xander of all people get discriminated against.

"Whoa!" Emma held up her hands. "No offense intended. God, you're really broadcasting your anger."

"He was the only real friend I had before I met Jean and the others," Cordelia told the blond girl. "He's a good guy, no matter what his DNA says. So don't get any funny ideas."

Emma was a little surprised to hear that. Most humans didn't react well to mutants in her experience. "Don't worry. I won't do anything to him," Ms. Frost assured the brunette before she turned to look out the window to watch the human again. ( Though I could use a good 'workout', ) she thought evilly.

----

**Crestview Mansion, Sunnydale, California**

**Later that night**

Xander took off his clothes, and rolled back the covers. Wearing only his boxers, he shut off the lamp's light and climbed into bed. "Yet another mutant mega-hottie to live with," he mused, before he suddenly grinned to himself. "Least I know this one's not gay..."

Harris could recall how the girl had come out and flirted with him before Cordelia got mad about it. Still, something about her worried him; he would have to ask Jean or Cordy what Emma's mutation actually was. Because that girl had looked like she could see straight through him sometimes.

About an hour later Emma was in her own bedroom, wearing just an over-sized shirt to bed. In the darkness, Emma used her abilities to check on the others.

Jean and Cordelia were child's play to check up on. Since Emma was a bit more powerful at the mind power stuff than Jean, Ms. Grey couldn't detect any of Emma's mental powers unless she was looking for it. And to someone with Ms. Frost's mindset, that just simpled things up a lot.

When Emma felt that Xander was asleep, she grinned. ( Now then, time to 'play'. )

---

**Dream world**

**A few moments later**

"Huh?" Xander asked as he woke up, and looked around the room in surprise.

This wasn't his bedroom. He found himself within a four poster bed with stone-looking walls, a castle maybe? It was lit by several candles placed around the bed. "What's going on-?"

"Nothing you need worry about, baby."

He turned to see his new housemate Emma Frost leaning against the wall. She was dressed in a white teddy that very well showed off all her curves, plus there was a see-through white silk robe went all the way to the floor. He nearly fainted, if he could have, after he saw the five-inch white heels. "Emma?"

As the blond female teen walked sexily over to the bed, and let the robe drop she told him, she said, "This is just your hormones…a dream of the wet and wild variety."

"Huh. Really?" Xander stuttered as she kicked off the shoes and crawled into the bed with him. "'Cause, 'cause most dreams like this, I have Cordy and Jean both dressed in leather soaping my…um, and then we all…okay, I better stop there. Even I feel like calling myself a pervert, right now."

Emma smiled in true amusement as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She had liked what she had seen within Xander's mind so far; despite the babbling. ( Oh my. Not a virgin, but such an innocent. And he really likes me in white? Have to remember that for our first date. ) The 19-year-old girl said, "Maybe next time, but right now, I have you all to myself. So let's see if we can't enjoy ourselves now that we're…all…alone…"

Once they started kissing and her hand started to reach for his boxers, Xander didn't offer any other protests. Even if this was just a dream to him, Emma Frost taking all her clothes off and then straddling his waist pretty much guaranteed that happening.

----

**UC Sunnydale campus, Sunnydale, California**

**November 3rd, 1999**

//So, Miss Frost,// the voice of her family's maid came through the cell phone. //How was your first week in California?//

"Wonderful, pretty much," Emma said with a smirk as she sat on the bench. "The people I live with are decent, and as much as I hate to admit it, they're actually helping me come to terms with my…abilities." She didn't say powers, because of everyone back home wanting to avoid that subject. "I even met a guy."

//What? Oh, no. Because I have not heard good things about those sex-crazed young California boys, Miss Frost.//

Emma laughed. "Don't worry, Melinda, I…checked him out first." ( If you call entering his mind and screwing him senseless that way 'checking', that is. But I have to admit, that boy did have quite a good imagination, ) she thought facetiously. Recalling the looks Xander gave her the next morning caused her to chuckle a little.

The phone call soon ended and a few hours later Emma was walking out of her last class of the day, when a voice called out her name. She stopped, not really likening to talk to the girl she wouldn't have gone near back home. "Faith, right?"

"You got it, Blondie," Faith said as she came over. "B said you were going out with X tonight?"

Emma frowned. "It's 'Emma', and yes I am going on a date with 'Xander' tonight. Why are you interested?"

Faith groaned at the proper English lesson. "Look, as one Boston girl to another, I just wanna ask you to be gentle with him. He's a good guy."

The blonde shook her head. "Yet another girl telling me to be good or gentle or careful with Xander. It's been what, five of you so far? I mean, is he like your baby brother or something?"

"No," the Slayer replied. "But the guy helped me through a rough time back in February, and I just don't want to see him hurt is all." Not telling the new girl about what happened after Deputy Mayor Finch had been killed.

Before she turned to walk away, Emma told the younger girl, "Don't worry my dear, if I hurt Xander… it will be in a way I'm sure he'll like very much."

Faith watched the girl leave as she shook her head. "X's going to have a hard time defrosting that Ice Queen. Can't believe I'm saying this but I think he'd have better luck with the demon chicks."


End file.
